Thoroughbred R&B singer Melanie Fiona just released her sophomore album, The MF Life, today and the 28-year-old "4 A.M." singer has been granted the cover of the new issue of Vibe Vixen. In the cover story, Fiona opens up about the highs and lows of her career so far, including a bout with depression she faced while coming down from a worldwide tour opening for Alicia Keys.

"It got pretty low for me," Fiona revealed. "I started to have a lot of emotional turmoil with my mental state of mind and my body 'cause I was exhausted.... I came back off of the Alicia Keys tour, and I just hit the wall. Like, straight-up, I hit the wall. I crashed; I said to my team, 'I’m no good to anyone right now. I need to recover,' and it really affected my confidence level in my approach to my job, my mind when it came to everything around me."

Fiona, who released her debut album, The Bridge, back in 2009, said she thinks a lot of younger artists today skip the traditional grind from obscurity to stardom. Although her road hasn't been easy, in the end she wouldn't trade it for instant viral fame.

"My team and I worked so, so much harder than artists now," she said. "[They are] like, 'Hey, I’m a superstar. I’m gonna make a YouTube video, and it’s gonna get eight gazillion views, and I’m gonna be famous, and I’m gonna end up on every TV show!' Meanwhile, I’m busting my ass just to get spoken about on radio and television.

"I appreciate the process I went through to be honest," she continued. "I actually feel bad for the people who don’t have to go through that process because they get hit with a harder blow when it doesn’t work. I think that they create the one-hit wonder phenomenon rather than the career artist."